Black panther spotted in Nagarhole National Park in India

Rare Beast

A black panther was spotted in Karnataka’s Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve on Monday, reported IANS. “An FRO [forest range officer] in NTR has sighted a black panther on Monday,” Deputy Conservator of Forests D Mahesh Kumar told IANS. He shared two photographs of the big cat.

This came after two photographs of a black panther went viral on social media. The pictures have got more than two lakh “likes” and were retweeted 54,000 times.

However, Kumar could not confirm if the animal in the widely-circulated photographs is the same as the one spotted on Monday.

In one of the two photographs, the panther is seen on a large moss-laden tree branch, looking backwards. In the other shot, the panther is looking back at the lens of the camera. Wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung has claimed to have shot the two pictures of the black panther in the Kabini forest.

Kumar said he cannot confirm if Jung is the one who took the photographs that went viral, but said that he was regular visitor to the tiger reserve. Kabini forest in Karnataka is a part of the Nagarhole National Park.

Kumar also clarified that photographers were not allowed inside the forest and disembarking from a safari vehicle was considered an offence. “We don’t allow photographers just like that into the park, he said. “Any visitor who comes for a safari will be allowed inside the park in the safari route. So it is by chance they sight an animal. Anybody can sight any animal on any given day.”

However, Kumar as well as the deputy conservator of forests said that a black panther is nothing but a leopard with excessive melanin on its coat. “It gets specialty only because of the people who follow it and give publicity to that animal,” said the deputy conservator. “They have some kind of special value attached to it. Otherwise, it is just like any other animal, only thing is it is melanistic.”

Kumar said there were about six black panthers in Karnataka forests and one in Nagarhole. He added that it was rare to spot the big cat but not impossible.

Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve stretches between Kodagu and Mysuru districts. It used to be an exclusive hunting reserve during the rule of the Wodeyar dynasty. In 1955, it was converted into a wildlife sanctuary and upgraded to a national park in 1988. In 1999, it was declared a tiger reserve and was brought into the fold of Project Tiger.

Some of the animals in the reserve are tigers, elephants, bisons, sambar, barking deer, sloth bears, wild boars. It is also home to a variety of birds.

Amazing Facts about Black Panther

1. Panthers belong to the family of cats, leopards, and lions.

2. Panthers are sometimes called jaguars and there are different types of panthers.

3. The two main types of panthers are white and black.

4. The other types of panthers are classified with respect to their colors: yellow panthers, tawny panthers, and spotted panthers.

5. In the wild panther can live only 12 years, but in captivity, they can live a longer life of 20 years.

6. Panthers can be of different sizes depending on their body weight. The maximum weight it can achieve is 160 kg, and normally their weight varies with their age from “36 Kg – 160 Kg”.

7. A healthy and young panther can sprint up to 114 Kilometers per hour.

8. They are one of the most strong and great climbers in the Big Cats Family.

9. The Black Panther is a stealth attacker and is also known as the ghost of the forest.

10. Panther facts show that White panthers are known to be one of the rarest animals breed in the world, there are only a few hundred white panthers in the world.

11. Panthers love swimming and they often swim to relax.

12. A panther can lift a hunted animal 50 times heavier than himself.

13. The Yellow Panther can have both black and yellow cubs.

14. The Florida panther is not a pure breed, although some researchers say that it’s not a panther.

15. It is believed that Lorenz Oken was the first person to describe this breed in 1816.

16. When panthers are babies their eyes are closed and covered with gray fur.

17. Panthers don’t leave their mother until they are one and half years old.

18. Panthers can easily hunt down their prey at night because of their black color.

19. They are solitary by breed and only meet during the mating season.

20. Panthers are carnivores.

21. Black panthers are beautiful but rare. They can be found in the jungles of the US, US, and Australia.

22. They can leap up to 25 feet.

23. Panthers can become pets, but only if they are raised with care from childhood.

24. Panthers are taught by their mothers how to hunt from 3 months of age

25. The largest panther is 10 feet long.

26. Panthers can roar like lions.